Blog 2 for 10/1

When I was in high school, we didn't have a Intranet for the purpose of using in school- just blocks on the Internet to keep us on 'appropriate' websites.  I think having an Intranet set up for students to use would be a great idea- and as much as I hate the idea of censoring, I know limitations are very important under the correct circumstances.  I read in someone's blog that they thought of it as a way of creating an environment for students to learn to use the internet as a tool without limiting their creativity, and I agree.  In Instructional Tech at CCBC, we talked about the definition of Intranet but didn't talk about ways to use it or what it really meant- I like the way Kist broke it down.

Blog 1 for 10/1

I found this Journal through ERIC (Educational Resources Information Center). 

Journal Record (on ERIC)

English Journal, Vol. 100, No. 5, May 2011 (many things to look at)

"Multimodal Literacies in the Secondary English Classroom" was the article I read- it opens as a .pdf.

 

"...we took traditional student activities and reformatted them so students could present their assignments multimodally.  One such example is our podcasting assignment.  To provide extended practice of tested literary terms, we developed an activity where students create public service announcements (PSAs) for their classmates. Grouped into pairs, students are assigned a literary term and are tasked to create a short radio commercial aimed at teaching their peers the term."

 

It's an easy read and it's five pages (really, just over four pages and a lot of sources).  Check it out!

Blog 2 for 9/24

In British Literature II right now, we're reading things from the Romantic period- my favorite period of literature.  What are some assignments my students I could give my students that would engage them in the time period?  John Keats produced an astronomical amount of work for a poet, but more amazingly he did it all before he died at age 25.  Students could use tagxedo/wordle to create 'word collages' from John Keats' poems (I tried to make one as an example, with Ode on a Grecian Urn, but I don't have something I need to do so installed on my laptop.)  The industrial revolution in England had a tremendous impact on society and literature- maybe they could use a program like Photoshop (or a website like faceinhole.com) to put their picture into an image of a profession of the lower class during that time (i.e. chimney sweep, mine worker, matchstick girl, etc.) and then write a first person narrative of their experiences, which would also require research on that profession.  They could submit a hard copy of this essay and maybe for extra credit, create a video of this essay to present to the class. 

Blog 1 for 9/24

Honestly, I'm not sure how I feel about Ch. 3, Kajder.  I still do not believe technology has to be such an overwhelming presence in the classroom- yesterday in Spotts, the power went out and it was great!  (Usually in one of my classes we balance between two or three books we're using, at the same time, and following with what correlates on projector- I followed so much better without that.)  Maybe it's because as I read, I feel like I'm interpreting this as things we should be doing all the time, when I'd probably use this every couple weeks at most....?
On pg.43 I read, "Doing work with technology isn't always about creating a huge, splashy end product and spending all our time in a lab.  Kids need to see what it is to select a tool to do something efficient, meaningful, and crisp."  Yes, agreed.  As the passage continued, I liked the other ideas that Brice used and thought, "..ok, this is using tools like the presentations we were doing on monday."
Brice also said, "Kids need confidence in order to engage, and they have to engage in order to grow.  That is one part of why we work to build a strong community in school and in class.  We learn alongside one another," on pg.43.
I'm sorry if I'm beating a dead horse sometimes- like somebody mentioned in class monday, the idea of the rapid changes in technology, or it's effects on students/people/society, is scary.  I don't think people should fear technology and turn away from it completely but I think more people should think about what it's going to do in the long run (my mind keeps going back to that study I posted last week, and I've been thinking about that a lot since I first found it in the spring).
As far as how I interpret the readings, I personally need to stop focusing on the word 'technology' and keep focused on multi-modal.
I'm getting there.

Introduction

Backtracking, because I skipped introducing myself.
My name's Brittany Susan and I moved to Beaver County when I was five years old.  I cheered for Monaca for 10 years and arbitrarily participated in other sports like gymnastics, baseball, softball, and track but I've been involved in mixed martial arts most of my life and the discipline has helped shape who I am today.  When I was 18, I moved to Cleveland and attended Ohio Technical College where I graduated with my certificate in body repair and custom painting, and an I-CAR certification in non-structural MIG welding.  I moved back home and worked in a body shop, flat-rate, for nearly a year when I decided it was time to go back to school (not that I didn't plan to all along, but the bad economy in '09 was an extra incentive).  I worked 1-3 jobs around going to CCBC part/full time from F'09-S'12 when I graduated with my Associate degree and this is my first semester at SRU.  I'm a car nerd- I get excited about Mopar muscle and the words "426 hemi" get my heart fluttering.  I love sloths, I dream of one day meeting Craig Ferguson, my favorite movie is Boondock Saints, I am Serbian, I love Ghostbusters, I know some ASL, I want to learn Russian, S.E. Hinton's my favorite author, I'm obsessed with hockey... and that's really all more than I'm sure you'd care to know!

Wk. of Sept. 10 - 2nd post

I thought this was a really interesting article that I read on Science Daily's website.  It discusses ill effects of over-exposure to technology and the decline of critical thinking skills, while visual skills increase.  I think it is something to keep in mind, considering 99% of our class is persuing teaching, and we'll have to contend with this.
"Reading for pleasure, which has declined among young people in recent decades, enhances thinking and engages the imagination in a way that visual media such as video games and television do not, Greenfield said."

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/01/090128092341.htm

Wk. of Sept. 10 - Post 1

In chapter 1, on page 5 (bottom of the second paragraph), I thought it was interesting when I read, "Still, it is much more difficult to make changes in my pedagogy that affirm the ways in which students come multiply literate and to build scaffolds and instructional tasks that will leverage and build on those literacies."  What is a strong strategy for guaging where a student's literacy level is at, or what their strongest literacy is?  It also got me thinking about the array of literacy types, how different students learn, and how different teachers teach- what a web!

• functional literacy
• cultural literacy
• multicultural literacy
• information literacy
• media literacy
• biliteracy
• visual literacy
• computer literacy
• mathematical/numberacy literacy
• new media literacy
• technology literacy
• global literacy

I have an interest in ELL and I think a lot about how culture effects the way students learn, like I mentioned in class.  Different cultures have different values, and there's different values between people in the same culture- some ideas I throw around:

• try to find out where their values lie, education wise (Do they get help at home? Do they study?  Are they motivated?  What areas are they strongest in?  How can you make the material relatable?  What is a hobby of theirs- can you bridge that with their material?)